NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., a full-service investment banking firm
specializing in financial services companies, today announced that
Richard Repetto, a Principal at Sandler O’Neill, has received the Financial
Times/StarMine “Analyst of the Year” Award, which honors his
significant career achievements as a leading research analyst and his
excellence in investment analysis. Mr. Repetto also ranked first among
analysts for estimations in the diversified financial services sector
and second among analysts for estimations in the capital markets sector.
He was previously recognized by the Financial Times/StarMine in
2009, as the No. 1 industry estimator covering the diversified financial
services sector for 2008.

“I am really proud of the great reputation and following Rich has
developed for his coverage of the exchanges and broker dealers, with
particular emphasis on electronic trading,” said Mark Fitzgibbon,
Principal and Director of Research at Sandler O’Neill. “Rich’s
recognition by the Financial Times/StarMine is a prime example
our firm’s commitment to providing our clients with research containing
fresh perspectives, independent thinking and deep industry knowledge.”

“I am honored to have been named Analyst of the Year,” said Mr. Repetto.
“Throughout my career, and with the assistance of great teams, I have
sought to provide clients with the best possible research and analysis.
Over the past several years, there have been a lot of exciting things
happening in the space and I have enjoyed following these developments
closely for our clients and for our firm.”

In addition to Mr. Repetto, four additional Sandler O’Neill analysts
were ranked by the Financial Times/StarMine, including:

Daniel Arnold – first place stock picker for the commercial banking
sector,

Devin Ryan – first place stock picker for the capital markets sector,

Michael Kim – third place stock picker for the capital markets sector,
and

Paul Newsome – third place earnings estimator for the insurance sector.

Sandler O’Neill today also noted the recognition of two of the firm’s
research analysts by The Wall Street Journal. In its annual “Best
on the Street” analyst survey, The Wall Street Journal ranked
Managing Directors Timothy O’Brien and Brad J. Milsaps as the nation’s
No. 2 and No. 5 banking analysts in 2009, respectively.

“The recognition of so many of our analysts’ contributions to our
clients and to our research team is well-deserved and further
underscores Sandler O’Neill’s longtime reputation for quality coverage
in the banking sector,” Mr. Fitzgibbon concluded.